Shore-Leave is (supposedly) a fundamentalist Christian who believes that praying is more effective than jumping into the water and helping a friend in need.

"The power of prayer can move mountains, Hank!"

Otto Aquarius. Jehovah's Witnesses get the treatment they usually get in American pop culture. He has some pamphlets if you're interested. That said, in spite of the Jehovah's Witnesses jokes, he's one of the few members of the original Team Venture who's not a total jackass.

There's a good argument that the real star of the show is Rusty and not his sons since most of the episodes revolve around him or his actions . There's also the notion that the show itself is one ongoing alternative take on Jonny Quest itself.

"This isn't all about you, Hank: these kids are here to see Rusty Venture. Maybe when there's a cartoon called 'The Venture Brothers', it'll be different!"

The sheer jackassery of Rusty Venture has caused some people to believe he is a Villain Protagonist. Dr. Killinger believed this as well and tried to help him become an Evil Scientist. The episode in question ends with Rusty, while rejecting Killinger, earnestly asking Brock about whether or not he's a bad guy and Brock being reluctant to answer. Although there's an alternate interpretation there since Rusty was kind of naked at the time.

It's also entirely possible that Dr. Killinger gave Rusty that Heel Realization simply SO he would back away from it. Dr. Killinger seems to be the least villainous villain in the series (Much more of a morally ambivalent self-help guru who wants to help people achieve their potential, regardless of what it is) so it's within reason that Killinger wanted to help stop Rusty's slow slide into villainy. It doesn't work.

Deleted scenes from the Team Venture reunion episode portray him as a Jehovah's Witness.

Both the boys are subject to this, but as of season 4 its particularly applicable to Hank. The Load? Or a serious case of Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass who's constantly held back because everyone underestimates him, and refuses to give him any degree of responsibility.

Given that he once rescued the family, while being doped up on caffine, supports the theory.

Archive Panic: The show isn't into Long Runner territory just yet, but so many characters undergo so much development, and so many changes happen to everyone, that starting to watch the show in its latest episodes and understanding what's going on will prove nigh impossible. Continuity Lockout plays into this. The creators even discussed how self-referential the show had become in the commentary for the season 4 finale Operation P.R.O.M.

Ass Pull: Some viewers found the twist that Col. Hunter Gathers only had a sex change for the purpose of gaining membership into Molotov Cocktease's all-girl hitman squad and quickly had said surgery reversed when Molotov began to suspect that he was spying on her to be this.

Better on DVD: When the episodes are watched all-together, the jokes layer on top of each other, the epic stuff gets more epic, and the "aren't we pathetic" stuff gets time to breathe. Additionally, watching on DVD allows viewers to have a better chance of catching the Brick Jokes, and the creator commentary fleshes out several details that fell through the cracks of the show's "show-don't-tell" storytelling.

Monarch's little...tribute to his Butterglider serves no other purpose than to show how deeply in love he is with the thing.

A great example is the Bear in "Bright Lights, Dean City". During the Revenge Society's recruitment drive a man in a very creepy bear suit that shows no features of the person within at all and looks scarily realistic shows up. He has no registration forms, says no lines, is soaked in blood and carries a large knife with blood dripping off it. He is never mentioned again and was presumably just there to make us wet our pants (and to make a movie reference).

The late 24 calling upon the spirits of Speedy and Woodrow Wilson during Pinstripes And Poltergeists. And what is 21 supposed to do for them? Showing off his ability to recall celebrity signature perfumes.

Almost any episode/scene in which General Treister appears has a tendency to lapse into this, whether it's his grandstanding at the O.S.I./Guild summit and naming the delegates after pop culture figures, challenging Hunter Gathers to a wrestling bout in lieu of "negotiation" for a prisoner, or piloting the O.S.I. hoverquarters clothed only in a toga made from the American flag. That these events are not lampshaded in any way is a testament to the bizarre nature of the Venture Bros' universe.

Casting Gag: So you have Captain Sunshine, who is a combination of a Superman Expy and every Batman and Robin gay joke in the world. Who did they get to voice him? Kevin Conroy.

The Chris Carter Effect: Avoided. The writers have stated that they don't plan anything, but they're usually pretty good at introducing and then tying up plot points. They've described their writing style as coming up with stuff on the fly, then writing future plots to remain consistent with what has been written while expanding on any detail that looks interesting.

General Treister launched himself into space, wearing an American flag as a toga, frozen in a salute with gritted teeth and a post-it note stuck to his external pacemaker that says Fix It. What do you think?

Orpheus' Master takes on the form of Santa Claus and uses a Spirit Bomb to nuke a zombie outbreak to kingdom come.

In the second season premiere, we find out the boys have been killed and then cloned back to life fourteen times. Cue a montage of them dying in increasingly violent, bizarre ways, occasionally cutting back to Doc and Brock laughing over silly minor details vaguely related to them, like the time they both grew mustaches. Even Dr. Orpheus is shocked and horrified. Then the episode uses still shots of the various murders for the credits sequence.

Dr. Venture: When you have death-prone children, you keep a few clones in the lab!

In one episode, Brock interrogates one of Baron Underbheit's henchmen by squeezinghis testicles, then stops when he notices that the henchman has testicular cancer.

Triana's friend Kim appears in two episodes, one of which she was featured in, the other she had all of a minute of screen time with no lines. May have something to do with her attitude, her potential to become a supervillain, and her possible ships with the boys and Dermott. Fans have been requesting a return ever since.

Hank asks Triana about her in the season 4 finale, after having trouble finding a prom date. She says that she's become a born-again Christian and currently lives in Florida. So she's probably not going to show up again anytime soon.

The Grand Galactic Inquisitor only appears in one episode, but proved to be very popular by hammily shouting "IGNORE ME!" after every sentence.

Dr. Dugong. He brings peace and love one gentle cuttlefish at a time.

Dr. Killinger has only had three major appearances, but is incredibly memorable, probably because he's basically the Mary Poppins of Evil, seemingly a very helpful and friendly dude, and one hell of a Magnificent Bastard to boot.

Warriana is starting to get popular because she's an Affectionate Parody of Wonder Woman and because of her growing relationship with Brock.

Shore-Leave started out as a shallow Village People joke in a flashback. But across more appearances, his utter camp personality combined with his complete badassness morphed him into a quick fan favorite, and Sixth Ranger.

Despite only one appearance, the fanbase adores Red Death. His happy home life, affable nature and ability to go full on nightmare Game Face endeared him to viewers almost instantly. And of course being voiced by Clancy Brown helped.

Foe Yay: The Monarch's obsessive hatred for Doctor Venture has recently hit very weird levels... like his having sex with a robot that has Venture's face.

Well, he was trying to give it chlamydia.

He taunted Captain Sunshine with a Hannibal Lecture in which he claimed, at length, that Sunshine would really enjoy having sex with him.

Also, when Dr. Girlfriend seduced Rusty for him, he looked like he was about to masturbate while watching the proceedings. The only other time he watched Dr. Girlfriend have sex with someone else just ended up... awkwardly.

"Funny Aneurysm" Moment: In "The Lepidopterists", 21 and 24 spend the episode lampshading their borderline-unnatural tendency to escape certain death, predicting that the well-prepared and evidently competent "Henchman #1" won't even last the mission (he doesn't). Only three episodes later, 24 is suddenly Killed Off for Real. And to add insult to injury, Scott Hall, a.k.a Henchman #1, a.k.a Zero, was revealed in season 4 to have survived his encounter with Brock.

The Sovereign being unceremoniously killed by Headshot becomes this now that David Bowie has passed on, even though it wasn't really Bowie. The timing (within a year) is eerie.

Growing the Beard: Arguably season two had peach fuzz, season three had stubble, season four is when the beard really came in.

You can even see the beard starting to come in at the end of season 1, particularly with the episodes The Trial of the Monarch and Return to Spider-Skull Island. It was with these that the show began its move away from "Jonny Quest Parody" to something deeper. Come season 2, the move was in full swing.

Genius Bonus: After hired killer Le Tueur is killed by Brock with his own sword, Brock asks the boys to call the cleaner and tell them "they have a Damian Hirst" on their hands. Damian Hirst is a well known conceptual artist who frequently uses large amounts of splattered animal blood on his art pieces.

More specifically, it refers to the Damian Hirst piece "Mother and Child (Divided)" - the preserved bodies of a cow and calf, each split in two lengthwise - in the same way that Brock bisected Le Tueur.

On one of the commentary tracks, the creators have saidthey do so much research for the show that a lot of it flies over some viewers heads or gets left on the cutting room floor for time.

The Hand of Osiris and the Eye of Osiris have shown up as mystical artifacts and MacGuffins. This may be a reference to how in Egyptian Mythology, Osiris was cut into pieces which were scattered across the land.

Harsher in Hindsight: In "All This and Gargantua-2", the Sovereign, who impersonates and for a long time was thought to be David Bowie, is unceremoniously shot dead. Less than a year later, the actual Bowie died from cancer.

Hilarious in Hindsight: In "Any which way but Zeus", Doc Venture wants desperately to be kidnapped by the mystery villain and says this;

Dr. Venture: Soon this guy will want a "Rusty Venture" on his mantleplace

Dr. Orpheus being mistaken for a "Dracula" is even funnier after Hotel Transylvania was released, centering around the actual Dracula as a Large Ham single dad protecting his Perky Goth short-haired daughter from her dorky love interest. It even earned the nickname "Dr. Orpheus: The Movie" from some fans.

Fans had been crossing over Team Fortress 2 with Venture Bros. for a couple of years due to their similar art style and humor. Now there's VB Cosplay items in TF2, and an ad for the game even ran at the end of S 5 E 1. Perhaps as a coincidence, that episode revealed that Sgt. Hatred's real name is Courtney, while TF2's resident Drill Sergeant Nasty also has a feminine name: Jane.

One episode has Expies of the Scooby gang break in to the Venture compound to hunt a ghost they believe is there. It...does not end well for them when they go after the boys. Luckily, the gang's next encounter with Dean and his brother goes much more pleasantly for them.

Jerkass Woobie: Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture, who knows he hasn't even come close to amounting to his father's success which was constantly beating him in the face as a child.

God knows what The Monarch would be capable of if he weren't so hung up on tormenting Rusty Venture. The Monarch absolutely demolished every other Science Hero the Guild put him up against until he went in over his head against Jonas, Jr. - and when outmatched, he managed to pull a Batman Gambit to get what he wanted. His goals may be small (he says that he's leaving world domination to "the religious nuts and the Republicans"), but nothing will stop him from pursuing them.

Monstroso.

General Timothy Treister manages to manipulate SPHINX, the OSI and the Guild while pretending to be crazy from Hulkism. His claim that he "invented the secret agent business" isn't that outlandish.

Killinger. Dr. Henry Killinger. Everything happens according to his plans. The "magnificent" part more so than the "bastard" part, however, as he only helps those he works for.

The Grand Galactic Inquisitor's shouting at the top of his lungs to "'''IGNORE ME!!!'''" at the end of every sentence.

The reoccurring background villain Brick Frog became this for how amusingly lame his gimmick is.

Misaimed Fandom: The Monarch and Doctor Girlfriend; though they are supposed to be the bad guys, fans have taken to them in spite of their villainous nature (or because they are nowhere near as bad as Rusty can be in the jerkass department).

Many of Dr. Venture's actions are examples of the sort that would normally qualify him for crossing it. He's the star of a Black Comedy, however, so it's more funny than repulsive thanks to much Refuge in Audacity.

Rusty, in the first episode, removes a dog's skin (his own dog no less) because a makeup company wanted to find a new way to test makeup on animals. To be fair, it was to prevent the dog from dying, but that's still pretty horrible.

It's pretty much telegraphed that Tim-Tom and Kevin killed 24.

Limb releases The Monarch's prison mates just so that he can hunt them down like animals.

Molotov Cocktease crosses this twice: first at the end of season three, where she puts a bounty out on Brock Samson's head and tricks him into thinking OSI was the one responsible. Manipulating Brock just to further her career was more impressive than it was unforgivable... but in Operation P.R.O.M., she went and not only chose someone else (Monstroso) over Brock after long acknowledging his affections for her, but was also willing to die with him. Then, just as a final "screw you" to Brock, she told him if she were to die, the Blackhearts were ordered to kill all of Brock's friends. They only survived because Dr. Venture used mutant Spanish Fly on them. Which turned them into mutant Spanish flies.

The senior Dr. Venture has done several things that may qualify.

His actions once caused a group of orphaned children to wander below his home for over 20 years. One wonders if this is probably worse that his son's machine that was powered by the heart of an orphan.

On a more intimate level: acting as Rusty's therapist so that he could belittle his own son and tell him how ungrateful he was for not enjoying a life of constant danger, kidnapping, and isolation from his peers. If you didn't already think he was worse than Rusty, this about clinches it.

Creating an AI with full access to a nuclear silo was a pretty idiotic move to begin with. Not to mention he trapped the miniscule Dr Entmann in her control room for decades as well.

Dr. Impossible using his ex-brother-in-law, The Human Torch a failed experiment who is constantly on fire (and screaming in pain) when awake as a green energy source to power his skyscraper. It says something about him when he thinks being green makes it morally acceptable. The Phantom Limb says it's basically the most deliciously evil thing he's ever seen.

Monarch's had several, but they usually don't take with fans. Most notably, his forcing a prostitute to run a dangerous gauntlet inside the cocoon after they have sex was supposed to be one, but the sequence's Red Dragon homage and Monarch revealing that he stole the polar bear from Lost to serve as a guard-bear, made fans laugh at it instead.

Replacement Scrappy: At least some fans consider Hatred to be Brock's Replacement Scrappy, when he takes over the bodyguard role in season 4. Unlike with other examples, however, Brock still makes regular appearances on the show, just not every episode.

Reverse Funny Aneurysm: Doctor Venture taking his sons' kidneys in the first episode was played for Black Comedy. However, the beginning of the second season revealed that they are replaced with clones on a semi-regular basis, so it wasn't quite as horrible as it first seemed. Of course, the reveal is worse than the incident from the first episode.

Seasonal Rot: "Rot" might be too strong a word, but season 5 could qualify, even though many of the issues are just the natural result of a shorter season. The Monarch has a much reduced role, and while every previous season gave us massive character development, and major changes, everyone seemed to end Season 5 and more or less the same place they were at when it started.

Conversely, it is the season where the Venture bros. discover that they are clones and Dermott learns that he is a Venture (half) brother amongst other things. So while character development may have been slightly down, plot development was still in full swing.

Season 6 is also this for some fans. Not counting the TV movie that aired in Fall of 2015, fans had to wait almost THREE YEARS after Season 5 for a new, reduced season of 8 episodes (Word of God says the TV movie counted as a few episodes, explaining the reduction). Despite an interesting premise of Rusty inheriting his dead brother's company and now a millionaire super scientist in New York City, the season ultimately floundered around introducing and killing off new, interesting villains and building plot threads like Dr. Mrs. The Monarch taking down Blue Morpho/The Monarch and Rusty running his brother's business into the ground that were left unresolved by the end of the season. It didn't help that characters like Dr. Orpheus or Dermott (who's new found knowledge of Rusty being his father still has yet to be explored) were nowhere to be found. The fact that fans will probably have to wait a few more years for more episodes and any type of resolution raises the question of whether or not the wait is worth it.

Shocking Swerve: Hank and Dean getting shot down in the season 1 finale. A literal one is Rusty getting crushed by a giant disco ball in the penultimate episode of season 5.

One of the deleted scenes in the second season is a fully-animated sequence of Orpheus's master having sex as Catherine the Great's horse and giving Orpheus direction and advice in between grunts as he nears climax. It's pretty easy to see how even [adult swim] wouldn't let that fly.

The real story behind Dermott's birth. Dermott's true origin. Rusty had sex with the 15 year old head of his fanclub and was forced into giving the family money and staying away. The girl's mother then raised Dermott as her own son and passed his real mom off as his sister and Brock as his dad. And Hank found all of this out AFTER sleeping with Dermott's real mom. You can't really blame Hank for throwing up after that.

Or intentionally getting a memory wipe.

It gets even worse as the situation plays out in reverse years later, with now adult Nicki sleeping with the underage Hank. Due to the Double Standard everyone treats Hank like this is some major accomplishment but it's still statutory rape.

A quick scene in Season 5 shows that she is still trying to make a go at Hank.

Dermott's thought that Triana will "cream herself". Oh and the fact he was shirtless during part of Operation P.R.O.M.

Myra implying that she breastfeeds her own cats and almost breastfeeding her own 16 year old "sons".

In "Momma's Boys", she almost shoved Dean up her lady parts in an attempt to give "birth" to him. Even before that, there was also some one-sided Incest Subtext between her and Dean when she tells him to get undressed and show her "that handsome new body."

Post-Op Colonel Gathers' encounter with Brock at a strip club.

Basically any dialogue from Sgt. Hatred involving young boys.

Any of the descriptions of the sex act known as a "Rusty Venture."

Accordingly to Shore Leave, a "Rusty Venture" is where two men 69 each other to the point of climax and then spin around, and cum in each other's mouths. Which is shot down by The Alchemist as a Snake Venom.

According to The Alchemist, a "Rusty Venture" is a finger-rimjob on a man while jacking him off into your mouth. Currently not debunked.

According to Colonel Gentleman and Tennesee Williams (aprocryphal), a "Rusty Venture" is where you take an old-school scuba tank and gear, shove one end of the tube up your ass, and squeeze the other over your dick, then work the pump on your dick and ass simultaneously until you cum. Debunked by Shore Leave as a "Double Frogman."

According to Watch of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, a "Rusty Venture" is where you reach up someone's ass with your your fist. That's the 'Rusty.' The Venture part is where you grab whatever you can and pull out. Debunked by Ward.

According to Ward of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, a "Rusty Venture" is specifically a straight move: where you take a woman out to dinner, get her to eat as much as she can, then don't let her shit, then have anal then pull out and blow shit/cum all over her back. And that is a Rusty. The Venture is where you eat it all off her back. Not currently debunked.

According "in universe" to www.urbandictionary.com, Triana Orpheus, and Dean's reaction afterward, a "Rusty Venture" is something involving feces and a handjob, among other things then when one person finds the turkey-baster, you eat your way out of the tub.

Officially defined by murderist extraordinaire and ladies' man, Brock Samson, as jerking off as hard as possible until your dick is all red and raw. Because Brock knows this. (SPHINX HAS NO SECRETS!) And he knows Rusty.

Suspiciously Similar Song: In "Perchance to Dean", Rusty introduces Dean to progressive rock. The music very clearly pastiches Yes' songs "Close to the Edge" and "Roundabout", even though the band's identity is only hinted at in dialogue. The sleeve of the record Rusty puts on looks more like an Asia album, while Yes' album Fragile can be clearly seen in the record crate (along with King Crimson's debut.)

Take That, Scrappy!: The Monarch delivers a rather chilling low-key one to the Murderous Moppets. He tells them in no uncertain terms that if they ever defy his command he will kill them and feed them to dogs.

St.Cloud not being let in the nightclub for supervillians in "Bot Seeks Bot" for no real reason.

21's revelation during "Operation P.R.O.M". After being called out by 24's ghost for not caring about him anymore, 21 meekly admits that although he loves 24, he has to let him go. Orpheus joins the conversation, but can't see 24, even though he can communicate with the dead. 21 tells Orpheus that 24's ghost is with them right now and he has his friend "Mr. Wendall", from the Arrested Development video, with him. Orpheus corrects 21, saying that the man he is thinking of is Baba Oje, who is not dead, and that Mr. Wendall was just the title of one of the band's songs. When 21 looks to 24 to see if this is true, 24 is gone. 21 cries when he realizes this means 24 was never a ghost and his best friend really is gone.

The truth of Dermott's father; it turns out that Dr. Venture unknowingly impregnated 15-year old Nikki Fitchell, the actual mother of Dermott who she raised to think of him as a sister and his grandmother as his mother. The sheer raw emotion and overall uncomfort of it all really makes one tear up. Especially considering it was one of the few times Dr. Venture tried to do the right thing only to be browbeaten and threatened into taking the easy way out.

They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The Grand Galactic Inquisitor gets axed after one episode, despite being one of the funniest characters yet. Similarly the G.I. Joe parody characters (Sphinx Commander and his gang and the unique OSI operatives seen in "O.S.I. Love You") get barely any screen time and mostly serve as Canon Fodder.

"The Lepidopterists" episode. Imagine: a season-long arc of the Monarch arching Dr. Venture, Jr. with many adventures in-between, and Dr. (Rusty) Venture playing second fiddle. This all culminates into the Batman Gambit of the Monarch finally getting his true arch back, like he did in that episode. So much potential.

"The Revenge Society", anyone? This episode features the return of Phantom Limb and David Bowie, a callback to "ORB", a Guild assault on the Venture compound with only Sgt. Hatred and Hank to defend it, and the revelation that Brian Eno, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper are members of The Guild of Calamitous Intent. And it all proceeds to add up to an episode where nothing happens for a good 2/3s of the ep, with little jokes in the interim, with an ending that comes out of nowhere. Definitely should be a record there for most plot wasted in a single episode.

To be fair, the show creators REALLY like to play with this trope. While there have been a few genuinely epic moments in the series, major plot points are just as likely to be resolved in mundane, boring, or off-screen ways. It all ties into the whole "failure" thing.

Dean's changes in season 5 had a lot of potential. But with his extreme lack of focus and more focus on Hank, only a few episodes touched on his new attitude.

Villain Decay: Richard Impossible in season three. This is probably intentional considering the breakup with his wife. Baron Ünderbheit and Phantom Limb were pretty damn scary, but both eventually succumbed to inevitable embarrassing failures endemic to the Venture universe.

What an Idiot!: In "Hansome Ransom", the Monarch corners Captain Sunshine in Sunshine's own base, cooly informing him that he knows that Captain Sunshine's powers don't work at night. So what does he use to attack the solar powered superhero? A special ray gun built to emit sunbeams identical to the kind Captain Sunshine uses. Predictably, his attempt at sentencing Cap to Death by Irony just ends up repowering the superhero.

Then, there's Phantom Limb, Underbheit, and Dr Impossible's plan to capture Rusty in "Bright Lights, Dean City." They get Underbheit to dress up as a cabbie, in order to gas Rusty while he's in the cab by sealing the partition between the front and the back, and emitting knockout gas... with the emitter located in the front of the cab. Underbheit's first reaction to then sums up the situation pretty well: "Vhat ze hell vas that shit out zhere?!"

Jonas Venture Jr, who despite achieving more in about a month than his brother did in his entire life, never met his father and spent over forty years trapped inside Rusty's body. And then he gets cancer and has to sacrifice himself in a massive explosion.

The Monarch, whose parents died in a plane crash when he was a kid and he doesn't remember playing with Dr. Venture in his childhood, where they were apparently friends.

21/Gary, who was kidnapped as a child and inducted into supervillainy, witnessed his best friend die in an explosion, left the Monarch to work for SPHINX, only for them to leave him the following episode, and spent the next few episodes after SPHINX was blown up just prowling around the Venture Compound before finally crawling back to his old boss.

Dean Venture, whose girlfriend (kinda) dumped him right before he found out that he has died about fourteen times in the past and is only a copy of his true self.

Sgt. Hatred, whose wife left him before he went to work for Venture Industries, where the boys don't really respect him as they did their old bodyguard.

Cody Impossible. His exposure to cosmic rays gave him the power to spontaneously combust whenever he has contact with oxygen. What it didn't give him was immunity to fire.

Don't forget Hank who is considered the unfavorite to Rusty and usually over looked in favor of Dean. Then Brock, his only his father figure (to actually give him support) leaves him with no goodbye or contact for at least a year (give or take) and then is replaced with a guy who he hates for molesting(?) him. Then when he goes out for his dream job as a spy at SPHINX, he passes all their tests only to be rejected just because they didn't want him. Afterward, his first time having sex is with his half-brother's birth mom which traumatizes him so much he has to have that memory erased.

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